Okaloosa County BOCC — June 16, 2015 — Public Hearing to Consider Revisions to Livestock, Poultry, and — agenda request

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: June 16, 2015 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Elliot Kampert SUBJECT: Public Hearing to Consider Revisions to Livestock, Poultry, and Beekeeping Provisions of Land Develo DEPARTMENT: Growth Management BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Conduct a public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending Section 2.21.05.10 of the Okaloosa County Land Development Code, Ordinance 91- 01 as amended, pertaining to the keeping of livestock, bees, and poultry. This is a legislative hearing as provided in Section 1.11.01 of the Land Development Code. BACKGROUND: In response to requests from citizens to be allowed to keep poultry in residential districts for the purposes of egg production in addition to the birds’ value as pets, the Board of County Commissioners directed staff to research the issue and develop standards that would allow the keeping of poultry in residential areas in a manner that would not become a nuisance to adjacent property owners. Research indicates that numerous communities across the country, including cities and counties in Northwest Florida, have amended their land development codes and other regulations to allow the keeping of poultry as an accessory activity to residential use. Setbacks from property lines, separation requirements from inhabited buildings, the number of birds kept, and enclosure requirements are among the commonly regulated elements of raising poultry in residential areas. After reviewing numerous poultry-related ordinances, staff has determined that the best way to accomplish the Board’s directive is to utilize the Land Development Code’s Administrative Adjustment process to allow the keeping of poultry as an accessory use in the R-1 zone, and the Special Exception process to allow such activity in the R-2 and R-3 zones. To do this, it is necessary to amend two sections of the Land Development Code. The first is section 2.21.05. 10 “Livestock; Poultry; Beekeeping”, which regulates the keeping of the subject types of animals. The second is section 1A.04 which establishes the process through which a property owner may receive an administrative adjustment to the provisions of the Code as an alternative to a special exception. This staff report and the public hearing for which this report is offered is concerned with section 2.21.05.10; section 1A.04 is the subject of a separate hearing and report. In its current form, Section 2.21.05.10 the Land Development Code (LDC) treats livestock, poultry, and honeybees as a single subject, and prohibits their keeping in residential districts except through the special exception process. This is problematic for a number of reasons including the Florida legislature’s recent preemption of local regulation of honeybees, and also due to an ambiguity in the section’s treatment of pets which has been subject to differing interpretations, including an interpretation that any animal kept as a pet is exempt from the subject regulation. In addition, staff’s understanding of the direction provided by the Board of County Commissioners indicates that a more expeditious process than that associated with a special exception may be warranted for the keeping of a limited amount of poultry in the R-1 zone. The proposed changes address these areas in a number of ways. First, livestock, poultry, and honeybees are each given unique provisions. In the case of livestock under the proposed changes, the only way in which such animals may be kept in a residential zone is by way of a special exception. This is how the current code addresses this issue. Poultry, in the form of chickens and two varieties of domestic duck, may be kept in the R-1 district by way of an administrative adjustment, and may be kept in the R-2 and R-3 zones by way of a special exception. In regard to honeybe